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Thursday, December 10, 2015

Blog Tour: The Bartered Bride

Description

The Bartered Bride

Lena Goldfinch

COLORADO 1880

Jem Wheeler has always been a survivor. He just wants to make a fresh start in
Colorado Springs after the loss of his wife. But then he happens upon a young
mute woman being sold off to the highest bidder. He wasn’t looking for a
mail-order bride. He wasn’t looking to rescue anyone either. But desperate
circumstances can drive a good man to do things he hadn’t planned on
doing...

When Jem steps into Annie’s life, she’s not expecting anyone to save her. Mute
from birth, she’s just using all her wits to survive. All she’s ever really
wanted is a family of her own. For someone to see her. To look at her long enough
to hear the things she can’t say.

Can a rescued bride who can’t speak communicate her love for a grieving
widower and his little girl? Will her love ever be returned?

The Brides Series #3

Note: Each book inThe BridesSeriescan be read as a stand-alone novel,
but reading in order will provide a more complete reading experience.

About the Author

Lena Goldfinch writes sweet
Historical Western Romance / Inspirational Romance and books for teens. She’s
always been a sucker for a good old-fashioned romance, whether it’s a novel or
short story, young adult or adult, fantasy or realistic, contemporary or
historical. Lena has been a finalist in several national writing contests,
including the RWA Golden Heart and ACFW Genesis contests. She enjoys life in a
quiet, small town with her husband, two kids, and two very spoiled Black Labs.

Review

After his wife's death, Jem takes his little daughter on the train to her uncle's home. On the way, they meet a young woman in a desperate situation--she is about to be sold off in marriage to the highest bidder. Without forethought, Jem steps in to help the woman, Annie, and marries her on the spot. Love could grow between the two of them, but there are a few complications to surmount before their marriage can really move forward, namely, Annie's muteness, Jem's grief over his wife's death, and revenge from the man who had previously intended to marry Annie.

The Bartered Bride was lovely. I was reminded why I put others of Lena Goldfinch's books on my favorites list. Her writing was good, her plot complicated and enjoyable, and her characters deep and like-able.

Annie's disability was very interesting. Born unable to form spoken or written words, she learned to communicate with hand gestures and facial expressions, with training in sign language. It was fascinating to learn about her disability and to imagine how hard it would be to play guessing games with people all the time. Can you imagine not being able to say "I love you" to your family or ask a simple question? Part of the book was spent trying to overcome the communication problems.

Throughout the novel, readers are reminded of Jem's grief over his deceased wife. It would be extremely difficult to lose a spouse, and that was obvious. But I wondered what Annie went through. Her life was certainly not pleasant and she had baggage from her previous bad experiences. I appreciated that Jem found out about those problems and took the time to help her overcome them.

Overall, this was a fascinating look into history, speech disabilities, and human depth. I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a sweet historical romance.

3 comments:

Hi, Emily! Thanks so much for your lovely review and for taking the time to share the news about my new release! Mostly, I'm personally so glad to hear you enjoyed Jem and Annie's story. That makes me happy. :) As a (very very) loose retelling of the Beauty and the Beast tale, the story does initially focus more on Jem's emotional journey, but you're right, part of his reentry into the world is a result of his concern for Annie and helping her learn to communicate, and caring about *her* experiences and past. I'm so glad you perceived that! :)

I did not notice that it was a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but I can see it now that you mentioned it. Very interesting. And I quite enjoyed the book and am happy to help. Thank you for sharing your story.